Valley of Fire (Catch Up Post)

When I was a kid, the only memories I associated with 'St. George' were that of giant red climbing rocks, and Grandma and Grandpa. How I loved them both. And now that I'm an adult I've found that I still have a fondness for giant red climbing rocks (and also for Grandma and Grandpa, though, that's another story). We threw all the kids and the camping gear into the car and drove to the Valley of Fire with some friends for a weekend excursion, and watching my children scamper around on those rocks filled me with all the nostalgia.

Unfortunately, everyone else had the same idea to camp in the Valley of Fire that same weekend, so we ended up being turned away at the gates and were left to our own devices to find a vacant (and suitable) camping site.

We drove through dirt roads littered with boulders and at one point ended up getting ourselves in a bit of a situation and we feared our minivans would not make it back out alive. So we sent the kids to play for a bit while we worked on freeing the cars. They were delighted to escape the stressful situation, and I was delighted to see them scamper off in search of adventure. Which they found in the form of a cliff and the pillowy cloud of dust they created by kicking dirt down its face.



At first it seemed rather dangerous and I ran to stop them. But when I got there I realized that there was actually very little danger and the still voice inside of me whispered 'let them play.' So I pulled out my camera and let them play.



I wasn't sure how the other adults felt about me disappearing from the Get The Cars Out event that was happening nearby, but by the time I had snapped a few pictures they had saved the day and were calling all the children to come get back into the cars.



We didn't find a great camping spot that night. But we found a fine one. It felt a little like camping in the barren desert (surprise), but the friends far made up for the lack of vegetation growing around.

And the next day we drove into the Valley of Fire and spent the afternoon exploring.